http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/...art_river_home
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I just posted this link in a new window while I continued to read the paper but if you look at the slide show you will see the James Birkholm memorial bench in use. I'm not sure why the operators of the fish farm shouldn't be required to strain their effluent the same as any other commercial operation that discharges into the river.
As a new property owner on the river and a member of the Angler's of the AuSable, I am very concerned about the potential impact of the Fish Farm expansion. I have joined the monetary fight to avoid this expansion effort and think we have a good case. I don't know much about Michigan politics, but hopefully our scientific research and legal argument about possible impact to the local economy will prevail in the end. I and all of me neighbors love and deeply care for the environmental purity and beauty of the river system. I pray we can keep it that way for years to come.
It sure seems like the Au Sable has a really hard time. It seems there is always some threat to it. Perhaps a really good environmental study should be done to see how this can be fixed.
The hard times stem from commercial governmental ventures attempting to use questionable practices or expansions too near the river. There have been numerous environmental studies done over the years and most of those threats have been side tracked. This is indeed a pristine spring fed river of wild trout with much nurturing from the Anglers of the AuSable and other organizations. I can't think of many rivers in the U.S. that are not faced with threats of one kind or another. The AuSable was severely abused in the early years of logging in northern Michigan, but with devoted anglers like the original "River Keeper" Rusty Gates, it is now and will remain one of the top wild trout rivers in the Midwest. There are many of us devoted to that cause physically and financially.